Senators Introduce Bill for Stem Cell Research

BOSTON – A bill introduced in the Massachusetts legislature Wednesday would remove ambiguities in state law that discourage embryonic stem cell research, backers of the measure said.

The bill would also ban human reproductive cloning and create an advisory committee to address ethical issues and establish safeguards for those donating stem cells.

"Our research community stands on the threshold of great advances in the fight against disabling childhood and degenerative diseases, but has been held back by cloudy legal policy on stem cell research," Senate President Robert Travaglini, a Democrat, said in a statement.

State Sen. Cindy Creem, a Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, said legal ambiguities have forced stem cell researchers at Harvard University to spend extra money to prove to local prosecutors that their work was not illegal.

For supporters, embryonic stem cell research is the cutting edge of medical innovation, holding out the promise of cures for a host of debilitating diseases. But foes say the potential benefits of stem cell research aren’t worth sacrificing human embryos, and they have vowed to fight the bill.

"We are concerned that this puts human life in the hands of biotech firms and scientists. This is an attack on the integrity and dignity of the human being," said Marie Sturgis, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. "Senator Travaglini was at one time an embryo as we all were. An embryo is a human being."

Language dating to the 1970s in a law that prohibited fetal experimentation has left some confusion over the legal footing for researchers using embryonic stem cells, which generally are gathered from donated embryos created at fertility clinics.

The state Senate passed stem cell legislation last year as part of an economic stimulus package. But it was stopped in the House by former Speaker Thomas Finneran, who had opposed the research.

Finneran stepped down at the end of last year to become president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which supports stem cell research.

His replacement, Democratic Rep. Salvatore DiMasi, and Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, whose wife Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, both favor stem cell research, giving the legislation a better chance this year.